Current Dallas head coach Jason Garrett played at Princeton as a college freshman. When his father, Jim, took the head coaching job at Columbia, Jason transferred to that university. After Jim resigned following an 0-10 season, Jason returned to Princeton, and got a degree from that institution in 1989.
The Princeton offense is an offensive basketball strategy which emphasizes constant motion, passing, back-door cuts, and disciplined teamwork. It’s frequently used by underdog teams that can’t otherwise hope to compete with the superior athletic talent of the other team’s individual superstars.
Underdog, voiced by Wally Cox, was the secret identity of Shoeshine Boy, whose girlfriend (bitchfriend?) was Polly Purebred.
The firing of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox became known as the Saturday Night Massacre. Solicitor General Robert Bork fired Cox at President Nixon’s request, after Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his second in command William Ruckelshaus refused to do so.
A lot of people kept telling Lorne Michaels to hire John Belushi for Saturday Night Live, but he refused beause Belushi had a reputation for being hard to work with. Gilda Radner went so far as to sit shiva until Belushi was hired.
Lorne “Gump” Worsley was the last NHL goaltender allowed to play without a protective facemask.
The NHL retired Wayne Gretzky’s #99 at its 2000 All-Star Game, making him only the second player to have his number retired league-wide by a major North American sports league; the other being Jackie Robinson’s #42 in Major League Baseball.
(I deliberately chose not to choose the obvious leap to Forrest Gump.)
Chicago Sportswriter Arch Ward was the driving force behind the MLB all-star game. It’s success led him to promote the College All-Star game, pitting an all-star group of college players against the previous year’s NFL champion. In the early years, the game was competitive, with the NFL team only winning one of the first five games (two games ended in ties) and by 1950, the All-stars had a fairly respectable 6-9-2 record. From that point on, though, the NFL lost only three times before the game was discontinued in 1976 (the final game not completed due to heavy rain). Final results: NFL 31 wins, All-Stars nine, two ties.
Chicago’s Mercy Hospital, opened in 1863, was the first hospital in Illinois.
Illinois bills itself as the “Land of Lincoln,” and the 16th President rose to political prominence there, but he was born in Kentucky and spent part of his childhood in Indiana.
Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only US President actually born and raised in Illinois.
Nancy Reagan was long interested in astrology, and arranged for her husband’s first inauguration as Governor of California to begin at a time that her astrologer told her was particularly auspicious.
The SS Californian, a ship that many people believe COULD have rescued numerous passengers on the sinking Titanic, was sunk itself just three years later, by a German submarine.
If the Titanic were built today, she would cost over US$400 million. A first class ticket would cost you nearly $70,000 today, a second class ticket almost $1000 and steerage (3rd Class) would range between $170 and $640.
Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear and Gonzo were transported to England via plane in The Great Muppet Caper, but it wasn’t exactly first-class. It was ninth- class. “What?! Twelve dollars and you don’t even get a meal?”
The plane was due to land in Italy, but the three friends landed in England-- thrown out the side of the plane in boxes and landing in a pond.
The flag of England is the cross of St. George, red on a white field.
Comedian George Burns’ real name was Nathan Birnbaum.
Comedian Steven Wright hails from Boston. His dad worked on the Apollo program.
Neither Wilbur nor Orville Wright ever married.
In The Last Starfighter, boy video game wonder Alex Rogan is recruited to defend the Star League against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada; he learns that the arcade game he’s been playing is an actual simulator to find qualified candidates.
When he declines the responsibility (and subsequently is about to throw away his shot at changing his mind), his mentor Centauri says, “You’re walking away from history, Alex! History! Did Chris Columbus say he wanted to stay home? No! What if the Wright Brothers believed only birds should fly? And did Galoca believe the Yulus were too ugly to save?”